Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) – Equities research analysts at Seaport Global Securities lowered their Q4 2018 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Mueller Water Products in a research note issued to investors on Monday. Seaport Global Securities analyst W. Liptak now expects that the industrial products company will post earnings of $0.18 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.19.

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MWA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Friday, November 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. Boenning Scattergood reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Thursday, November 2nd. Cowen lowered Mueller Water Products from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Thursday, December 28th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Mueller Water Products has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.88.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE MWA) traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $11.08. The company had a trading volume of 1,051,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,274,115. Mueller Water Products has a one year low of $10.54 and a one year high of $12.99. The company has a current ratio of 4.73, a quick ratio of 3.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $1,760.00, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.05, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.20.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.06. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 20.51%. The company had revenue of $178.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 206,228 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,656,000 after buying an additional 15,901 shares during the last quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. now owns 930,649 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,913,000 after buying an additional 64,086 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products in the 3rd quarter worth $1,286,000. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 442,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,164,000 after buying an additional 9,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Mueller Water Products by 37.0% in the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 255,815 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,988,000 after buying an additional 69,094 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.99% of the company’s stock.

In other Mueller Water Products news, CFO Evan Hart sold 49,883 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.28, for a total value of $612,563.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 145,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,108.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Gregory E. Hyland sold 50,000 shares of Mueller Water Products stock in a transaction on Monday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.34, for a total value of $617,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 979,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,086,795.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 476,640 shares of company stock valued at $5,886,596. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This is a positive change from Mueller Water Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Mueller Water Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.62%.

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About Mueller Water Products

Mueller Water Products, Inc is a manufacturer and marketer of products and services used in the transmission, distribution and measurement of water in North America. The Company operates through three segments: Mueller Co, Anvil and Mueller Technologies. The Mueller Co segment manufactures valves for water and gas systems, and dry-barrel and wet-barrel fire hydrants.